Emerging Literacy Class: Expectations and Objectives Essay

Introduction

The notion of literacy is often viewed solely as the ability to comprehend written text and creating it. However, the concept of literacy is far more complex, extending to the idea of comprehending discourse on a much more advanced level, as well as building an intuitive sense of language (Hodges and Baum 238). Therefore, learning how to locate emerging literacy and use it to prompt the evolution of one’s language skills is central to the successful development of an individual (Pendergast et al. 11). Since the class is titled “Emerging Literacy,” I hope to gain information about how literacy can be developed at the earliest stages possible, thus creating the platform for lifelong learning.

Main body

Working with very young learners is one of the critical skills that I expect to learn during this course. Since the notion of emerging literacy implies that the process of language skills development is studied from its very conception in a learner, I tend to think that the course will focus on the development of critical skills in children aged 2-4 years. Therefore, the course is bound to be based on the tenets of Piaget’s developmental theory, as well as the concepts suggested by Vygotsky and, possibly, Eriksson (Cassano and Dougherty 31). In addition, the course may address the strategies for encouraging knowledge acquisition as a general concept, allowing participants to become independent learners as well.

Conclusion

Given the title of the class, I hope to gain insights into the strategies that can be used to spur the acquisition of basic abilities needed to build literacy and gain an intuitive understanding of language. Moreover, I hope to infer critical lessons for gaining the ability to navigate my personal process of literacy acquisition by building lifelong learning skills and becoming an independent learner. Finally, I will strive to locate and explore new strategies for encouraging early literacy development and locating its emergence in young learners to prompt their academic development.

Works Cited

Cassano, Christina M., and Susan M. Dougherty. Pivotal Research in Early Literacy: Foundational Studies and Current Practices. Guilford Publications, 2018.

Hodges, Thomas E., and Angela C. Baum. Handbook of Research on Field-Based Teacher Education. IGI Global, 2018.

Pendergast, Donna, et al. Teaching Middle Years: Rethinking Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment. Allen & Unwin, 2017.